Salivating for Iowa sweet corn? It will be ready just in time for July 4

Thousands of ears of sweet corn were served up during the Sweet Corn Festival in Adel on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. Organizers said they have 14,000 ears of sweet corn, which they hand out for free to hungry festival goers. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)Buy Photo

Iowa sweet corn lovers will have to be strategic about getting their fix for July Fourth festivities.

Here's why: A couple of central Iowa farmers say they plan to have freshly picked sweet corn for the holiday — but not until Monday.

Ron Deardorf of Deardorff Sweet Corn in Adel will have street vendors pushing out bags of sweet corn Monday and Tuesday throughout the Des Moines metro.

His crews will pick corn for Des Moines-area stores Wednesday morning and truck it to area grocers throughout the day.

Mike Penick of Penick's Sweet Corn will have his sweet corn at his stand south of Des Moines, beginning at 8 a.m. Monday.

The Des Moines Downtown Farmers' Market will have sweet corn, beginning next weekend.

Grimes Sweetcorn will announce when its corn is ready, sometime between July 4-9, according to a telephone recording at the business.

Hy-Vee stores will have fresh Iowa sweet corn "a day or two after July 4," said Tara Deering-Hansen, spokeswoman for the West Des Moines-based grocery chain.

"One of our suppliers in central Iowa had to replant some of their crops after receiving hail damage earlier in the season," she said.

Until then, the stores have sweet corn from Georgia, Deering-Hansen said.

Buy Photo

Thousands of ears of corn were served up during the Sweet Corn Festival in Adel on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. Organizers said they have 14,000 ears of sweet corn, which they hand out for free to hungry festival goers.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

Deardorf, who also supplies corn for the Adel Sweet Corn Festival, said a wet spring delayed planting a bit, pushing back when the corn was ready.

And this spring and early summer has been a mix of cool, hot, dry and stormy weather.

Penick said a few recent "sprinkles and teasing rains" really helped his corn crop.

Growers face an avalanche of demand the first couple of weeks it's ready, said Penick and Deardorf.

"I'll have people who eat only corn that first week or so," Penick said.

Penick's Sweet Corn stand is at U.S. Highway 65-69 and Scotch Ridge Road.

Deardorf will have street vendors at 73rd Street in front of Walnut Creek YMCA, Windsor Heights; First Street in Ankeny near Mercy Clinics Family Center North; near Grinnell State Bank on Merle Hay Road in Johnston; and Peoples Trust Bank & Savings in Waukee.